The Life of Kaoru Haruno
by AmuletSugar1
Summary: Kaoru Haruno has been treated as a princess almost all her life, so what is she to do when she is suddenly forced to move in with her cousin, Sakura Haruno, after the death of her father. Swearing revenge against her father's murderers, will Kaoru complete her goal and be able to live happily or will she be consumed by the dark feelings that come with swearing revenge?
1. Prologue

A/N: The story takes place during the beginning of Konoha 12's last year at the academy.

 **~X~**

Prologue

 **~X~**

I felt dead. I felt as though every part of me had died. The cries and sobs of the people around me fell onto deft ears. All I could focus on was the newly buried grave in front of me.

 _'Why? Why would this happen to me?'_ Was all I could think of at the moment.

I had been a good kid. A perfect one at that. I never cried obnoxiously and I never spoke out of turn. I excelled in all of my written subjects and I could play any instrument taught to me. I could sing like an angel, as others have told me, and I was graceful and poise like a princess. I had to be all those things if I was to be the daughter of a great lord. Or in my case, the daughter of a late great lord.

My father, Akio Haruno, was assassinated by a group of rogue ninjas while on his way to make a personal trade with a lord in the neighboring shinobi country. Because my father was a very wealthy lord, we had assigned at least 5 ninjas to look after him on his journey. Obviously they were not much help in protecting my father.

Just as his name quite literally states, my father was a glorious man. He was loved by everyone here in our secluded village. Our village was made up of groups of people from every elemental country that did not quite like how their previous village ran things and decided to make up a village of their own. This village was very secluded and not many knew of it. My father and I had moved away from our last village when I was at the age of 4, after the death of my mother whom died of a lethal sickness.

We had stumbled upon the village by accident, but it quickly became a new home for us. Soon though, the village began to become out of control and many of the adults wanted there to be a leader of the village. And long story short, my father ended up being elected after several people nominating him. He was able to make the village prosper diligently and gained respect in everyone's eyes.

And I, I was treated as a princess. I had everything I could ever possibly want: a loving father, friends (although most seemed to only like me for my position), a high ranking position, gifts, toys, and beauty. Despite these things though, I was never ever selfish. I hated the thought of anything bad happening to anyone. But now, after finally registering the death of my father, the only person I truly loved and trusted, I felt the warm flame of happiness in my heart become snuffed out and replaced with a thin layer of ice.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **~X~**

I sighed heavily as the carriage hit yet another bump along the path and I felt myself being jostled once again. I was currently traveling, by myself might I add (save for the carriage driver), to Konoha in the Land of Fire to stay with some family. After the death of my father, the village decided I was not old enough to take on the responsibility of being leader of the village and set out on choosing a new one. They could not so easily abandon me, after all I was their late leader's daughter. So they quickly located family members of mine in Konoha and shipped me off to there.

I made no complaints about the sudden change and instead packed my bags with a few of my father's belongings as a keepsake. Then before I knew it, I was being wheeled off to Konoha. I was slightly apprehensive about traveling alone with only the carriage driver, seeing as my father died traveling. The driver assured me though that I had absolutely no bounty on my head. I wasn't sure whether to believe him, to think he was lying or even whether or not to be slightly offended by that statement.

This brings me back to the present, we have travelled for roughly two weeks, and we haven't encountered any rogue ninjas. I was extremely grateful for this, seeing as we were supposed to arrive at Konoha today. I can't say I was very excited. Being at the tender age of 12, the village that I could once call mine was all I had ever known. And after my father's death, I wasn't sure if I would be as open to people as I once was.

I was brought out of my musings by the feeling of the carriage coming to an abrupt stop. Curious, I pulled back the short curtain covering the window of the carriage and looked outside. I was surprised to see we had stopped in front of a large gate guarded by two people. Again, I was brought out of my musings, but this time by a voice.

"Who are you and what reason do you have to be travelling to Konoha?" One of the men asked.

"W-we mean no harm! I've c-come to drop off the princess w-with some family members here i-in Konoha," the driver stuttered out.

 _'Pathetic. Why the hell is he stuttering? They're just guards. And why is he calling me princess? He knows that I've been stripped of that title.'_

"Let us see the princess," the second man said.

"R-right away, sir!" The driver exclaimed in fright.

I quickly closed the curtain and began fixing myself up a little before the driver opened the door. I allowed him to take my hand and guide me out of the carriage and in front of the two men. I smiled at them, albeit a fake smile, but a smile nonetheless.

Bowing elegantly, I said, "My name is Kaoru Haruno, and I am here to visit members of the Haruno family. I was told that they had taken up residence here in Konoha."

I rose up from my bow and looked at them, "There are Haruno members here in Konoha, correct?"

"Ah, yes there is. I'm Kotetsu, and this is my partner Izumo," the newly introduced Kotetsu informed me as his partner nodded in greeting.

I smiled politely at him in return.

"Izumo, send the Hokage a message telling him to bring in Sakura Haruno from the academy. I'll go and take them to the tower," Kotetsu said.

"Sure," Izumo replied without complaint.

I walked back to the carriage and climbed inside before it was off we went. It didn't take very long to get to the tower, at least in my opinion it didn't. After the carriage came to a stop, the driver hurried over to my door and let me out. As I stepped out, I looked up at the tower. It was huge, bigger than any of the buildings back in my old village. I also couldn't help but to take notice of the crowds of people gathered around, all pointing at me and whispering to each other. I didn't get a chance to tell them how rude it was to point before the driver and Kotetsu ushered me into the building.

Kotetsu didn't stop at the front desk, but instead kept on walking towards a long flight of stairs. By the time we were at the very top, I was slightly out of breath and about to break out into a sweat. I never was one for physical activities. Kotetsu led us to the end of the hallway before promptly knocking on a door.

"Come in," an old, gruff voice commanded from behind the door.

Kotetsu consented to the command and opened the door, allowing me to step inside first before closing the door behind me and presumably leaving with the driver. Looking around, I noticed two people in the room. One being the Hokage and the other being a pink haired girl with whom I regarded with curiosity.

"Hello, you must be Kaoru. I am the Hokage as you've probably guessed," the Hokage said in greeting.

I smiled politely and walked forward before bowing elegantly, "Yes, that would be me. It is an honor to be in your presence."

The Hokage gave a hearty laugh before saying, "If only all kids your age were as respectful to their elders as you."

"Here is my form by the way," I said as I walked toward his desk and handed him a short letter handed to me by the driver before we had left on our journey.

"Hokage-sama, who is she? What was I called here for?" The pink haired girl asked, interrupting me from making any further conversation with the Hokage.

"Well, Sakura, I called you here to introduce you to your cousin. Kaoru, this is your cousin Sakura Haruno. Sakura, this is your cousin Kaoru Haruno," the Hokage said introducing me to the pinkette, now dubbed as Sakura.

Sakura and I stared at each other. I actually could see a little bit of resemblance between us, the main being the fact that both of us shared the same long, pink hair. But instead of velvety red eyes like mine (I refused to believe that they were demonic), she had bright, emerald green eyes. And her hair was slightly longer than mine when it wasn't in its twin pigtails. She seemed a bit like the bossy type, but also seemed like she'd make a great friend, if given the chance to prove herself.

"As you just recently found out, your uncle and Kaoru's father, Akio Haruno, was recently assassinated by a group of rogue ninjas because of his wealth and money. In his will, Akio requested for Kaoru to come to Konoha and live with you and your parents," the Hokage continued on, informing Sakura of my predicament.

"Oh, well, I guess that's alright. Will Kaoru-chan be attending the ninja academy with me?" Sakura questioned sending me a quick glance after having turned her attention back to the Hokage.

"What's a ninja academy?" I spoke up curiously.

"You don't know what that is?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"In all due respect towards Kaoru, Sakura, she grew up in a secluded village that was more civilian than ninja," the Hokage informed.

"Oh," Sakura said in an understanding tone.

"So what is a ninja academy?" I asked again.

"Well, Kaoru, as with any other school, a ninja academy teaches students a core curriculum of reading, writing, mathematics, science, geography, etc. It is also where prospective ninja are trained and where official ninja receive their assignments. Most children start the academy at age six and graduate at age twelve," the Hokage informed me.

"Oh," I said dumbfounded.

 _'Duh.'_

"So could Kaoru-chan join my class?" Sakura asked.

"Well, do you have any training?" The Hokage asked me.

"No," I deadpanned.

Sakura and the Hokage sweat dropped at this.

The Hokage sighed, "Well, it's still the beginning of Sakura's last academy year. Perhaps Kaoru would be able to join and graduate. Of course, you would have to do a lot of extra training in order to catch up with everyone else."

I pondered the idea. Should I become a ninja? I mean there's no guarantee that I'll be able to graduate at all seeing as I have absolutely no ninja training, let alone any knowledge of the ninja world. Maybe it'll just be a waste of my time. But then again, what better things will I have to do? I've lost my title as a princess which means I would be subjected into manual labor in the near future. Do I really want to do that?

 _'No, I don't want that.'_

"How hard would I have to work to be able to catch up?" I asked nobody in particular.

"Well, seeing as you have no training, I would say just about every day. Though, you could be able to progress fairly fast if you show signs of being a prodigy," the Hokage concluded.

I nodded at his words. It didn't seem likely that I would be a prodigy at anything ninja related, but it seemed like it would be fun. Plus, I also had another motive for wanting to join.

"What are the requirements to join?" I asked.

"The only requirements are to love the village and hope to help preserve peace and prosperity. You must have a mind that will not yield, a mind able to endure hard training and work. And of course, you must be healthy in mind and body," the Hokage listed off.

I thought about that. I only just got here, but I suppose I could learn to love it. Like with any village, I would hope to help out here which I guess is sorta like preserving peace and whatnot. A mind that will not yield? I've been told that when I put my mind to something it's hard to get me to give up on it. Would that count? As for being healthy in both body and mind, I'm almost positive that I fit those qualities.

I stayed silent as I thought about all this. If I joined, I could graduate though the possibility of that is about 48%. But if I didn't join, I know for sure that I would always wonder "What if?". Finally, I nodded.

"I guess, I wouldn't mind enrolling in the ninja academy then. And maybe this way, I'll be like the princess warriors I've read about in story books," I sighed dreamily towards the end of my sentence and clasped my hands together as stars began to shine in my eyes.

Unbeknownst to me, the Hokage sweat dropped again, only this time much bigger than the last one, and Sakura fell to the ground in disbelief.

"Well, since that's settled, Sakura, Kaoru, you both are dismissed," The Hokage said as he waved us towards the door before pulling out some pieces of paper from a drawer in his desk.

Sakura and I both bowed, me more elegantly then her (not to brag or anything), before we both exited the room. After that, everything was a bit of a blur. My bags had been left by the driver at the front desk, and so after grabbing that we went to Sakura's house where she introduced me to her mom and dad, otherwise known as my aunt and uncle Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno.

After the introductions were made, Sakura left me with her parents so she could go back to the academy. Her parents were actually really nice, and I'd say we got along pretty well. Later, Mebuki helped me set my things up in my new room which had previously been the guest room.

Mebuki was a little strict, but after a few moments of talking with her one on one, she seemed to warm up to me and loosen up some. We talked as we set things up in my room and soon hours had passed. By then, Sakura was home and she offered to take Mebuki's place and help me.

Like with Mebuki, Sakura and I bonded really quickly. She immediately told me of her crush on this one boy named Sasuke Uchiha. It was a little annoying, her obsession with him, but it was cute never the less. Though, I couldn't exactly understand her crush on him fully seeing as I had always been the one crushed on and never the one crushing. When I told her this out loud, she made it her mission to set me up with somebody and have me experience the so called "wonderful feeling of love." I didn't bother telling her no, in fear of upsetting her. Before long we had finished setting everything up and it was dinner time.

Dinner was relatively quiet, with a little small talk here and there, mainly just Sakura telling me about what things they're currently learning at the academy in order for me to not to be as clueless when I show up as I was now. And it turns out, during my cleaning time with Sakura, the Hokage had sent a letter to Kizashi telling them about how I would have to start the academy tomorrow.

At first I wanted to complain about having to start so soon, without even being given a chance to properly settle in first, but then Mebuki reminded me that it would probably be for the best. If I wished to actually graduate from the academy, I would have to start as soon as possible in order to catch up. With that said, she immediately sent me off to bed so that I would have had a good night's rest by morning.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **~X~**

I woke up to the feel of someone shaking me.

"Come _on_ , Kaoru! We're going to be late if you don't get up now!" I heard Sakura say in exasperation.

Blearily, I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up.

"Finally," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes.

"Now, come on, or else I'm leaving you," she said before walking out of the room.

I stuck my tongue out at her back before standing up out of bed. I calmly walked out of my room and to the bathroom a few doors down from me. I made sure to brush my teeth, take a shower, etc. etc. When I was done, I walked back to my room with a bath robe wrapped around me and a blow dryer in my hand. I went to my vanity set and plugged in the blow dryer before using it to dry my hair with one hand and using my other hand to brush it through with a brush. When my hair was dry and fluffy, I grabbed two red ribbons and used them to tie my hair into two low pigtails.

After that, I walked to my closet and opened it up. I don't exactly have "ninja" clothing, but I guess I can find something that will make do. Rifling through my closet, I found a pair of sandals that were sort of like the ones I've seen Mebuki and Kizashi wear. I was just about to give up looking and go ask Sakura for some clothes to wear when something caught my eye.

It was a short, strapless kimono that I had worn once last year for the end of the summer festival. It was a dark, dusty shade of red that I adored the moment I saw it. As mentioned before, it was strapless and had a small black corset wrapped around the waist which was tied together with strings.

It had sleeves to go with it, though they weren't attached. The sleeves started a couple inches above the middle of my upper arm and from there down to the elbow it fit nicely until it flowed out into wide sleeves. The skirt of the kimono, as thin as it was, stopped a little bit below mid-thigh for me, so I decided to wear some spandex shorts with it.

 _'Don't really wanna go around flashing my peers, now do I?'_ I thought to myself.

Glancing at myself in the full length body mirror on my wall, I deemed myself presentable enough to show up at school. I decided not to keep Sakura waiting any longer and quickly ran downstairs to see Sakura waiting impatiently by the font door.

"It's about time, now come on! I want to get a seat next to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed as she grabbed my arm and proceeded in dragging me out the door.

At that moment in time, I was literally a doll flapping through the air as Sakura ran all the way to the academy at top speed. By the time we got to our classroom, not a single hair was out of place for her and she hadn't even broken a sweat. Where as I was desperately clawing at the door frame in a way to stay upright and not tip over. Not to mention my hair was practically a bird's nest. When I regained control over my body, I hurriedly fixed my hair back to the way it was before.

Looking around, I noticed the classroom was full of kids my age. I didn't get any time to properly look them over, though I did see one boy playing with an incredibly cute dog, before I was immediately pulled along by Sakura up the stairs and towards a boy with dark black hair.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed in a happy tone that was accompanied by a slight squeal.

The boy didn't answer her back, he only stayed in his position with his elbows on his desk and his head lying on top of his interlocked fingers and continued glaring ahead at the chalkboard.

"Sasuke-kun, this is my cousin, Kaoru-chan! I'm showing her around just like the good cousin I am!" Sakura said pushing me forward toward the boy before giving me a _very_ tight side hug.

Sasuke didn't even bother giving me a glance, let alone make any sign of acknowledging what Sakura just said. Before I could ask whether he was mute or deaf, I was cut off by an angry voice.

"Stay away from my Sasuke-kun, Forehead!"

I raised my eyebrow at the nickname and turned my head to see a pretty blonde girl at the bottom of the stairs with an angry look on her face. Before I could even blink, she was right in front of us.

"Who says he's yours, Ino-pig?!" Sakura asked harshly as she released me and took a step toward the blonde girl.

"It's Ino to you! And just who is she?" The new girl, Ino, asked pointing an accusing finger in my direction.

By this point, we had drawn a lot of attention, though most people had looks that gave off the idea that this most likely happened everyday. But because of what Ino said, a lot of people had turned their attention away from the duo to look at me.

"None of your business! Besides your name still means the same thing doesn't it? What difference would it make if I called you a pig?! It certainly does suit you," Sakura said ending her sentence with a smug flip of her hair.

 _'Damn, an insult like that is going to be hard to top.'_

Apparently, Ino had the same thought in mind. So instead of retorting back, she prepared herself to lunge at Sakura. Before she could though, a man walked through the door and called the class to attention. I breathed a sigh of relief. That would've been ugly. I watched as everyone immediately went to their respected seats and both Ino and Sakura took the seats on either side of Sasuke. Whilst I just stood there awkwardly standing next to a seated Sakura.

"Class, we have a new addition. Would you please come to the front and introduce yourself?" The man asked me, immediately recognizing me as a new student.

I consented and slowly walked down the stairs to the front of the room and stood next to the man.

Turning around to face the class, I said in a monotonous voice, "My name's Kaoru Haruno and Sakura is my cousin. I took up the offer that the Hokage gave me to join the academy."

I noticed the kids giving me interested looks. Some of the boys wore love struck looks and some (okay all) of the girls wore looks of envy. I couldn't help but mentally smile at this. It meant that most things wouldn't change for me, perhaps I would still have a chance at living my princess life.

I made sure to keep a blank face on the outside though. I saw Sakura give me a confused look at my sudden behavior. I couldn't blame her. After all, I was suddenly acting less bubbly then I was back at home. But I didn't bother giving her any kind of signal to reassure her that I was fine.

"Thank you, Kaoru. My name is Iruka Umino, but please call me Iruka-sensei," Iruka-sensei instructed me.

I gave him a silent nod.

"You may go sit by Chouji. Chouji, raise your hand," Iruka commanded.

I looked over the crowd of students to see one boy raise his hand. He was a little on the heavy side and had weird markings on his cheeks. If I squinted, I could see the top of a potato chip bag that was sitting in his lap. Without any complaints, I walked up the stairs towards him and sat next to him.

"Hi," Chouji greeted me before stuffing chips into his mouth.

"Hi," I greeted back.

From here, I could smell the chips and damn did they smell good. They smelled like barbeque. And I haven't eaten breakfast this morning. Should I ask him if I could have some? Or would that be too impolite?

"U-um," I stuttered out.

"Huh? What is it?" Chouji asked taking his attention away from the lecture that Iruka-sensei had begun.

"Well..." I trailed off as I stared at the bag of chips.

 _'I've always been taught never to take food unless offered to you. So what do I do?!'_

"Nevermind," I said at last as I shook my head and sighed.

Chouji's next reply was interrupted by the sound of my stomach growling. Loudly. I immediately wrapped my arms around my midsection and blushed furiously.

 _'How embarrassing!'_

Chouji laughed quietly at this and held the bag of chips out to me.

"You were going to ask for some food, right?" He asked.

I nodded sheepishly, but otherwise kept my head down.

"I have some other snacks too. What would you like?" He asked again figuring I would probably want something else.

"Barbeque chips and chocolate pocky, please," I mumbled out quietly.

 _'Well, he did ask me if I wanted anything to eat so no harm done!'_

Chouji quickly dug through his bag and pulled out a bag of barbeque chips and a box of chocolate pocky. Getting out another bag of chips, though I couldn't tell what flavor, he closed the bag back up before giving me my food. I sent him a small grateful smile, before quickly devouring the food. In a lady like manor, of course.

I made sure to listen to the lectures Iruka-sensei talked about and jotted down short notes of what he said. Sadly, I had to ask Chouji for some paper and a pencil seeing as I had neglected to bring any supplies with me. He didn't seem to mind though which made me feel less embarrassed. By the time lunch came around, my hand was throbbing from all the writing I had done and my head was practically spinning with all of the new information I had yet to process.

I sighed heavily and laid my head on top of my desk. All I wanted to do was sleep. But alas, that wasn't my fate.

"Hey, Kaoru!" Sakura greeted me as she walked over to my desk.

I lifted myself up and sat up straight before saying, "Hey, Sakura."

"Want to help me find Sasuke?" She asked with a small sigh when she said his name.

"Um, no thanks," I declined, shaking my head.

"Ok, I'll see you later then!" She exclaimed before joining the crowd of kids that were leaving the classroom to find some place else to eat their lunch.

 _'Hey, wait a sec. I don't have a lunch!'_

I groaned and allowed my head to drop onto the desk. I sighed before sitting up and walking out the door. Maybe I can find somebody who will share their food. God, I feel like a peasant. I kept on walking until I found myself outside of the school in what I would call a courtyard. There were tons of kids running around and playing games while some other kids were just sitting calmly by the trees and eating their lunches with friends.

Looking around once more, I spotted Chouji. He must have some spare food for me. Walking over to Chouji, I noticed he was accompanied by two other boys. One of them had a pineapple shaped ponytail sitting atop of his head and the other was the kid I had seen earlier who had the dog. I tried to ignore the stares all three of them gave me as I approached them.

"Um, hi Chouji," I said nervously with a small wave.

"Hi, Kaoru. What'd you need?" Chouji asked.

"I was wondering.. Do you have any spare food? I sort of forgot to pack a lunch this morning," I mumbled as I felt a small blush form on my cheeks.

"Sure, Kaoru! Have a seat," Chouji said before rumaging through his bag.

I hesitantly did as told and tried not to fidget under the other boys' scrutinizing gazes. Mainly the gaze of the boy with the dog. Chouji gave me some food consisting of another bag of chips (sour cream and onions this time), two cookies, a mini bag of beef jerky, and a bottle of water. I accepted the food from him with a small smile before I proceeded to dig in.

The guy with pineapple hair had stopped staring at me at me long ago, for which I was grateful for, but the dog boy didn't stop. Not to mention even his dog was staring at me. It was kind of getting on my nerves so I decided to point it out.

"Didn't your mother ever say that it was impolite to stare?!" I snapped.

Chouji looked up from his second bag of chips and pineapple head opened his previously closed eyes to look at me and dog boy.

Dog boy squinted his eyes at me before replying, "You smell funny."

...

...

...

"Ex. Cuse. Me?!" I screeched as I stood up and glared down at me.

Dog boy's dog jumped at my screeching and moved to hide behind his owner.

"Troublesome idiot," I heard pineapple head mutter before releasing a sigh.

"Well?!" I demanded an answer as I placed my hands on my hips.

"Geez, calm down! You didn't let me finish. I had meant that in a good way," dog boy tried reasoning with me.

His dog barked a few times from behind him, as if agreeing with him. Which was sort of weird for a dog.

"How is me smelling funny a good thing?" I hissed out between my teeth.

Luckily for us, mainly for me, we were far enough away from the other kids that they couldn't hear our argument.

"Because it's natural. Most of the time, girls smell like perfume. It's always making me sneeze, so I hate it. You don't wear perfume so I wasn't used to it. That's why I said that you smell funny," dog boy concluded.

I blanked.

 _'I feel so stupid now!'_

"Oh..." I breathed out quietly as I let my hands fall from their place on my hips.

"Yea," dog boy replied awkwardly.

I quietly sat back down. Dog boy's dog seemed to think that the coast was clear and so he came out. Nobody said a word and the silence was becoming unbearably awkward.

"So... What do I smell like?" I asked curiously.

Dog boy leaned toward me, not enough to be in my personal bubble, and sniffed the air. I had to resist the automatic urge to lean away as I raised an eyebrow at this.

After a couple moments he said, "Raspberries and pomegranate."

I blinked surprised before taking a discreet sniff of my hair. I couldn't really smell anything, but I'd take his word for it.

"By the way, what are your names?" I asked upon realization that they had yet to introduce themselves.

"I'm Kiba and this is Akamaru," dog boy, Kiba, replied with a toothy grin as he pointed to himself before picking up his dog and holding him up to me.

The newly proclaimed Akamaru barked happily before allowing his tongue to hang out of his mouth.

 _'D'aaawwww.'_ I mentally cooed.

"Shikamaru," pineapple head replied with a small nod in my direction.

"Nice to meet you, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru. I'm Kaoru," I gave a small smile to them as I introduced myself.

After that, we continued to eat our lunch with a little bit of conversation here and there. They were a nice bunch and didn't seem infatuated with me, which I greatly appreciated. Though I was just a tiny bit depressed by it.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **~X~**

After lunch was over, I walked back into class accompanied by Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji. I walked back to my seat with Chouji by my side and sat down as Iruka-sensei came in.

"Okay students, we'll be going outside to practice our kunai and shuriken throwing. After that we'll focus on sparring and a bit of chakra concentration," Iruka-sensei informed us.

I paled a little at this. I was going to make a fool of myself! I have terrible aim and I know almost next to nothing about chakra. And I have to fight?! I'll get all dirty and bloody! Just as I was about to drown in my negativity, Chouji snapped me out of it.

"Are you coming Kaoru-san?"

"Oh, um yea sorry," I apologized nervously as I stood up and followed Chouji and the rest of the students back outside.

We walked a little bit further, past the playground, and that's where we showed up in a little training area.

"Alright, everyone go grab a weapons pouch and stand next to a target," Iruka-sensei instructed.

Everyone voiced their consents before doing as told. When I grabbed my own weapons pouch, I was surprised to find it heavy. As I walked toward an open target, I peeked inside the pouch to find kunai and shurikens laying inside.

I looked up just as Iruka-sensei gave us a brief example of the stance we were supposed to take when throwing a kunai and shuriken. You had to stand with your feet shoulder length apart. If you were right handed, you stood with your right foot a little bit in front of your left foot. If you were left handed, you stood with your left foot in front instead. I was right handed so my right foot was in front.

After Iruka-sensei's example, he let the other students begin before walking over to me. When he was next to me, he stood off to the side so he could watch.

"Now, Kaoru, I want you to try and hit the bull's eye with a kunai, okay?"

I nodded in response before wrapping the weapons pouch around my thigh as I had seen others do. I pulled out a kunai, holding it by the hilt, and got into my stance.

"Stop."

I frowned.

"What's wrong? I'm doing my stance correctly, aren't I?" I asked looking over at Iruka-sensei.

"Yes you are," Iruka-sensei said as he walked up to me, "But you aren't holding the kunai correctly."

As he said that, he put his hand over mine and moved it so that my index finger was inside of the little loop at the end of the hilt. Without letting go of me, he pulled my hand back toward my chest before thrusting it forward.

As Iruka-sensei let go of my hand he said, "Now try it like that, alright?"

I nodded silently as I looked at my hand and the kunai in it. I took a few practice swings, mainly me just thrusting out like I'm gonna throw the kunai but never letting go. When I deemed myself ready, I took a deep breath and glanced over at Iruka-sensei who was staring at me intensely.

 _'Gee, way to pressure me.'_ I thought sarcastically.

I turned my gaze back to the target. Closing my eyes and taking another deep breath, I reopened them before pulling back my kunai and thrusting out.

This time I let go.

It felt like eternity waiting for the kunai to hit the target. But when it did, I was slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the kunai hit the target. It just didn't hit bull's eye. Instead, it hit the outer rings of the target.

I guess I couldn't really be disappointed at this. It's a miracle I even managed to hit the target at all. It's just that I was really hoping to impress Iruka-sensei by hitting the bull's eye. I took a discreet glance at the other students. I could see that though they didn't hit the bull's eye every time, a majority of their kunai and shurikens hit it.

Just as I was beginning to drown even further in depression, Iruka-sensei spoke up, "That was very good for your first try, Kaoru."

"It was?" I asked doubtfully.

"Yes it was," he reassured me as he walked up to me, "Most kids take a while to learn to hit the target correctly."

I smiled a little, my mood having been lifted.

"The only thing that I suggest you do, is focus on the bull's eye. The more you think about hitting the bull's eye, the more your weapons will hit its target. You have strength behind your throws, all you need is to center that strength."

I nodded as I thought about his words. I was glad for the compliment, but I also was thankful for the subtle criticism. Iruka-sensei understood that it would be hard for me to catch up with the other students whom all had 6 years of training and learning under their belts.

But thinking about that, it was all divided into sections over the years. This year was more like a huge review of everything that's happened which will allow me the time to learn and train to be a true ninja.

I smiled at this new philosophy.

"Now try it with the shuriken," Iruka-sensei instructed.

Iruka-sensei took a step back as he watched me get back into my former stance. I took out a shuriken from the pouch on my leg before holding it up. I had to be careful with this one because of all the pointy edges it had on it. Though they were a little dull, I knew that if I applied enough pressure that I would most likely cut myself.

For a second I thought that I had to put my finger through the loop in the middle of the shuriken to throw it, but I found that a little to hard to do. So instead, I just held onto one of the edges. I flicked my wrist a couple of times to get the feel of having a shuriken in my hand. After a couple more seconds, I brought my hand up to my chest before thrusting forward and letting go.

This time, it didn't feel like that long of a wait as the shuriken flew towards the target. I was even more disappointed with this one though. Unlike the kunai which hit at the side outer rings if the target, the shuriken hit towards the bottom outer rings.

"Don't worry, Kaoru, shurikens are hard to work with for most of the kids. That's why most prefer to use kunai when doing target practice. Just try flicking your wrist upward instead of down," Iruka-sensei told me from his spot.

I processed this new information. I looked around to see that indeed a majority of the kids were all using kunai though some did switch out to using shuriken, but that was rare. I looked down at my wrist before pulling out another shuriken. I pulled my hand back toward my chest and thrusting forward letting the shuriken go. But this time, I focused on my wrist and not the target. When I did, I saw that I did indeed flick my wrist downward unconsciously.

I looked up at the target to see that my second shuriken had landed next to my first shuriken. I took out another shuriken before doing the drill again. This time I made sure to flick my wrist upward instead of down. When I threw it, instead of toward the bottom outer rings, my shuriken landed at the top outer rings. Not exactly a bull's eye, but it was still an improvement.

"Good job, Kaoru," Iruka-sensei praised me.

I smiled a little, trying to hide my giddiness at being praised.

"I'm going to help the other students. Will you be fine without me?"

I nodded in reassurance before turning my attention back to the target.

 **~X~**

A while later, Iruka-sensei called the class to a stop. Right now we were all lined up in a row as Iruka-sensei handed us medium sized leaves. When he handed me mine, I looked at it curiously. Iruka-sensei noticed and explained it to me.

"I want you to stick this on your forhead by using your chakra."

"Um, how do I use my chakra?" I asked hesitantly.

I blushed slightly as I heard a few of the other kids giggle at me and whisper about my stupidity.

"You mix together both your physical and spiritual energy before guiding it to a center in your body, the center being your forehead."

"Okaaayyy," I said slowly.

Iruka-sensei smiled encouragingly at me before walking back to stand in front of all of us. He pulled out a stop watch before telling us to begin. Whoever's leaf fell from their forehead had to go sit out and practice some more.

I, of course, was the first to get out. I had placed the leaf on my forehead and imagined mixing together my physical and spiritual energy. As soon as I took my hand off the leaf, it fell down to the ground. I was thankful that nobody laughed at me, but it was probably because they were too focused on keeping the leaf stuck to their forehead.

I walked off to the side and sat down. I noticed that almost immediately a blonde boy came and sat down a little ways from me. I watched as he sat glowering down in anger at the leaf in his hand with a hint of sadness gracing his features. I tried ignoring him though in favor of figuring out how to mix my physical and spiritual energy. Obviously just imagining them mixing together hadn't worked.

Despite being determined to do this, I couldn't help but sneak a peak at the blonde boy sitting not too far from me. If you ignored the blatant anger on his face, you could see that he was actually pretty cute. His blonde hair was in a disarray, but instead of looking messy it looked like it was fixed that way though effortlessly.

From what I could see of the side of his face, he had unblemished, tan skin. I could've sworn that there were little lines on his face too. Wait, those are lines. There were three of them on each side of his face. But the most startling thing about him, were his cerulean blue eyes. They shined with curiosity and untold sadness. I furrowed my eyebrows at this before blinking.

 _'He's caught me staring.'_ I thought alarmed.

I quickly averted my gaze back to the other kids in front of me. From what I could see, nobody else had gotten out yet. Sneaking a quick peek, I was surprised to see the blonde boy still staring at me and this time he was a lot closer than before.

I gasped at his close proximity, only a couple inches away from my face. In my hurry to back up and out some space between us, I ended up falling on my back.

 _'Oh, Kami.'_ I mentally groaned.

"Ah! Are you alright?!" I heard the blonde boy ask.

I nodded deftly before I sat up and tried to brush myself off. There were pieces of grass sticking to my open back and shoulders and it was itching me.

"Sorry, sorry!" The blonde boy exclaimed before reaching over and brushing all the grass off for me.

My breath got caught in my throat as we were once again in close proximity. I watched as the boy finally pulled back though not enough to calm me down. We sat staring at each other for a while and I held my breath. That's when he leaned over once more and raised his hand up to my face. As a reflex, I flinched slightly and shut my eyes tightly.

 **~Naruto POV~**

I sat there staring at the girl in front of me. She was the new girl and Sakura's cousin which was sort of obvious, even for me. Like Sakura, she had bright pink hair. Instead of letting them down, she kept them in little twin pigtails. Her eyes were different from Sakura's though. Unlike the shiny emerald eyes that I loved, this girl had red eyes that almost seemed to glow against her pale skin.

Her outfit wasn't exactly ninja material, but I can't really judge. After all, I do wear a bright orange jumpsuit. The black corset she wore around her waist emphasized her chest which looked a little bit bigger than Sakura's. I quickly averted my eyes and met her gaze once again.

Over all, she was really pretty. She wasn't beautiful like my Sakura-chan, but she was pretty nonetheless. I had been hoping that maybe she would be my friend, but that possibility was soon squashed as I realized that her parents probably already told her to stay away from me.

That's when I noticed that she still had a leaf in her hair. I leaned forward once again and raised my hand up to her face. I watched as she flinched back and closed her eyes. I immediately assumed it was because of fear and I couldn't help the sharp pang of sadness that shot through me at her reaction. I tried to ignore it though as I went ahead and grabbed the leaf still placed in her hair.

 **~Kaoru POV~**

With my eyes still closed, I felt him touch my hair before pulling back. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw him staring back at me with a leaf placed within his hands. Reaching a hand up to my hair, I patted it wondering if that's where the leaf came from.

"It was in your hair."

 _'Well that confirms it.'_

"Oh, thanks," I said uncertainly.

I couldn't help but to notice the look in his eyes. There was even more sadness in them than before, but this time there was a hint of rejection. Something that I recognized easily from all the times boys confessed to me and I had rejected them. But that confused me. I was pretty sure that this boy hadn't confessed to me, so why was he feeling rejection?

"Is something wrong?" I blurted out.

I immediately covered my mouth with one hand. That was both rude and impolite of me. I had absolutely no right to pry about his business.

 _'But I_ ** _am_** _curious.'_

The boy looked surprised by my question but answered nonetheless, "No, nothing's wrong! Sorry to have bothered you."

Just as he stood up and turned to go, I realized what he said.

Again I blurted out, "You weren't bothering me."

 _'Why the hell are you still talking? Just shut up and focus on learning how to use chakra!'_ I mentally screamed at myself.

I couldn't help it though. My mouth seemed to be talking on its own. Something about the boy just wasn't quite right. Maybe it was the heartbreaking emotions in his eyes or maybe it was the hideously bright orange jumpsuit he wore. Maybe it was my curiosity of the whisker-like marks he wore upon his cheeks. Either way, I wanted to learn more about him.

The boy seemed surprised at my outburst, but I ignored that in favor of motioning for him to sit down again. He did so, albeit a bit slowly as if he was waiting for me to take back my invitation. I stared at him once he was seated next to me. He wasn't too close to me this time, but he wasn't far away like before.

I tilted my head to the side as I peered at him before asking, "What's your name?"

I saw him perk up a bit before he held his head up proudly and pointed at himself with his thumb, "I'm Naruto Uzimaki! Someday I'll be Hokage, believe it!"

I blinked at his enthusiasm. He wanted to be Hokage? That's a really big goal to make. But looking at this boy, Naruto, made me think. If someone like him had such a big goal, then surely I could make graduating the Academy my goal.

I smiled slightly at him and stuck my hand out, "Nice to meet you, Naruto. I'm Kaoru Haruno!"

He stared at my hand for a second before looking back at me. Slowly, he lifted his hand to mine and shook it. An idea soon came to mind.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yea?" He replied back after letting go of my hand.

"Do you know how to use chakra?" I asked.

"Sure, I do. I'll even teach you if you want!" He exclaimed with excitement.

"Please do. I'll need a lot of help catching up with the other students if I want to graduate," I said the last part mainly for myself.

Naruto still heard it anyway and replied, "Don't worry, with my help you'll be caught up in no time!"

He gave me a huge grin and a thumbs up which I giggled at. Before I could say anything more, Iruka-sensei had called the class to attention. Next we were going to spar. I paled at this. No, absolutely not. I'm gonna get pummeled. But I still got up and followed everyone. As I was walking with Naruto to go to the sparring area, Iruka-sensei approached me.

"Kaoru, you can sit out the sparring matches until you think you're ready to fight, alright?" Iruka-sensei offered.

"Alright, thank you Iruka-sensei," I said as I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Iruka-sensei smiled at me before walking off.

"Lucky! You get to sit around for who knows how long while I have to go and get my ass kicked!" Naruto whined in complaint.

I raised an eyebrow, "You admit to getting your ass kicked?"

"What? I never said that! I said while I have to go and kick ass. It's such a chore really," he denied in an attempt to cover up his previous mistake.

I shook my head, but wore a small, amused smile.

 **~X~**

Watching the others spar was pretty entertaining. I saw some moves which looked both basic and complicated, but I was determined to try them out later on. I was surprised when afterwards Sakura dragged me with her to a different classroom then Iruka-sensei's.

Apparently this classroom, or class in particular, was for kunoichi classes where they taught us about other cultures and how skills such as flower arranging will help us to blend in during an infiltration mission.

This was easily my most favorite class. Already, I was earning praises from the teacher and I knew I was on the track to becoming her new favorite. It was just my luck that Ino used to be her favorite, at least from what Sakura told me.

I sat with Sakura in this class, so every time I did something correctly in the teacher's eyes and she praised me for it, Sakura was sure to send Ino a triumphant smile each time. Even though it was _me_ who was doing everything. But I was happy to know that I was able to make my cousin feel victory against her rival.

After that class, it was time to go home which I was glad to do. As we walked out of the gates, I spotted some of my earlier made acquaintances (I don't exactly consider them as friends yet).

Waving to them I called out, "See you tomorrow Chouji! You too Kiba, Shikamaru!"

I heard Akamaru bark at me and I giggled slightly, "Sorry. I'll see you tomorrow too, Akamaru!"

He made a bark before climbing on top of Kiba's head from his shoulder. I smiled slightly at the sight before facing forward again. But before I could, I also spotted Naruto in the distance.

"Naruto!" I called out.

I watched him turn around before I waved, "See you tomorrow!"

He stood still for a second before his face broke out into a large grin and he waved back enthusiastically. After that he turned and jogged away. My smile widened a little bit and I turned to face forward again when I noticed Sakura staring at me disbelievingly.

"What?" I asked worried.

"What? What?!" She repeated.

 _'Is she insane?'_

"You not only talked to _three_ guys, but you even talked to _Naruto_ of all people! Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed loudly as we walked home.

"Yes, and?" I questioned.

I wasn't seeing the problem here.

"And?! You basically have three boys wrapped around your finger! And Naruto - Kami, _Naruto_ ," she groaned before continuing, "He's a complete loser! Not to mention that he's the dead last in the class!"

I frowned at this, "That's kind of rude, Sakura. As far as I know, I'm a dead last too."

"Well, you have an excuse because you just started. But _Naruto_ ," she spat his name out angrily, "He's had years to practice, but he never does! He's annoying too! All he ever does is pull pranks and try talking to me! And then he always smells of ramen too!"

I sighed as I allowed Sakura to rant and rage on and on about my new acquaintance. This is gonna be a long walk home.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 **~X~**

The next day at school was similar to yesterday. I was dragged to school by Sakura, I sat next to Chouji whom gave me snacks (aka my breakfast), I wrote down notes, ate lunch with Chouji (this time I actually brought a lunch), practiced with kunai and shuriken (I hardly improved from yesterday), epically failed at the leaf exercise, and I sat out during the sparring matches.

The only major difference was that today I noticed Naruto wasn't around during lunch. When I asked him during the chakra exercises, he said that he was busy with something. I didn't really believe him, but I decided not to pry this time.

Today, I decided to start my personal training. But first, I have to buy some kunai and shurikens. Mebuki gave me enough money this morning to go out and buy all the necessities I'll need to start my training. Kunai and shurikens were the very first things on my list.

Sakura decided not to come along, instead opting to go search for Sasuke and ask him to hang out. I shrugged at this and went on my way. It wasn't very hard finding a store that sold kunai and shurikens. It was actually very easy, and they even gave me a complimentary weapons pouch. So after buying those, I went on to the next items on my list.

I had to search the library for these particular items. It was easy with a couple of directions to the library from some people. Eventually I found it and walked in. I noticed how it was divided into sections. There was a section that was opened to all civilians and Academy students. But upon further inspection, I noticed other sections dedicated to ninja ranging from genin to ANBU.

I easily dismissed those, for I had no use for those books at the moment. Instead I went over to the section dedicated to Academy students. I needed books on chakra, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and a book on a wide variety of plants. It was easy to locate them because of the alphabetical order they were in, so I was out of there quickly.

Next on my list was buying weights. I'm sure they had some here, at least I hoped. It would really help speed up my training. After getting directions to the nearest weight store I walked inside and turned down a random aisle only to walk in upon a _very_ disturbing scene.

I stood frozen in the aisle as I saw two people, both male, run towards each other in slow motion. The weird thing was that they both looked exactly alike, it was like they were a candy bar including a regular size and a fun size. They both shared the same bowl cut hairstyle, dark green jumpsuit, and orange leg and arm warmers. But the thing that stood out the _most_ among all that, was their bushy eyebrows.

Looking behind them, I saw two other people both of them maybe a year or two older than me. One was a girl with her hair done up into two dumpling styles sitting atop her head. She was pretty in a tomboyish way. The boy standing next to her had long hair down to his shoulders, but that wasn't what stood out. What stood out, were his pale violet eyes. There wasn't even a pupil which sort of creeped me out.

Looking behind those two, I saw a sign for the weights. The only problem is that the two lookalikes were still blocking my path. Only now, they were crying waterfalls and there was a picture of a sunset behind them. Or was I hallucinating? Kami, the heat here is already getting to me. I cleared my throat, effectively gaining the quartet's attention.

"Excuse me, but could you please move over? I need to get to the weights section over there," I asked as politely as I could while I pointed at the sign behind the dumpling girl and pale eyed boy.

At first nobody moved and I was afraid that I would have to just push through them. Suddenly the older of the two twins grinned widely and striked a pose while giving me a thumbs up.

"Of course youthful spirit! Go ahead!" He exclaimed loudly as he stepped to the side.

His miniature twin followed example and stepped to the other side. The other two kids did the same. I nodded my thanks before walking down the aisle. I couldn't help feeling slightly nervous under their heavy gazes, but I ignored it in favor of looking straight ahead with my head held high.

I could still feel their gazes on me, even after I had passed them and made it to the weights. It was getting harder and harder to ignore them, and soon I would feel the need to question them. And I assure you, I wouldn't be very nice when doing so either. I shook my head and focused my attention on the weights.

 **~3rd Person POV~**

Team Gai watched as the pinkette walked past them and toward the weights. Her frame was small and fragile looking, like she could easily break with a quick snap. The way she walked wasn't like a regular civilian. Most civilian walked with heavy footsteps, not caring in particular just how much noise they were making.

But she wasn't walking like a ninja either. Though her steps were light and airy, they weren't exactly precise and filled with stealth. Her back was perfectly straight as she walked and her head was held high.

 _'Almost like a princess.'_ TenTen thought briefly.

They watched her stop and stand in front of the weights. Her eyebrows furrowed a tiny bit and they saw her purse her small pink lips.

 **~Kaoru POV~**

I furrowed my eyebrows and pursed my lips, an old habit of mine, as I came to a standstill in front of the weights. I didn't even know where to start. Should I get the barbells? And if so what sizes? I huffed quietly in frustration before turning my gaze to look at the shelves along the aisle.

I blinked as I saw a package set of black wrist and ankle bands. Curious, I walked toward them. I pretended not to hear the small gasps that sounded behind me in favor of looking at the bands.

Picking up one of the packages, I was surprised to find that they were slightly heavy. Looking at the weight inscription on the package, I was slightly happy to find that they weighed about one pound each, four pounds in all.

I hurriedly began stacking the weights in my arms. Though that was kind of hard considering that they're weights. I could only carry up to 25 pounds when I remembered that I would have to carry these all the way home, so I decided to just take this for now (A/N: this means she grabbed a 1 lb. set, a 2 lbs. set, and a 3 lbs. set. When you multiply this by four, the number of limbs they'll be attached to, it adds up to 24 which is also equivalent to the average weight of a two year old).

I was only mildly surprised to find the group still standing there staring at me. I was mainly surprised to find that thing 1 and thing 2 were all up in my personal bubble.

"Oh, how youthful you are! You understand the meaning of hard training!" Thing 1 exclaimed loudly as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

 _'My personal bubble just burst.'_

"Gai-sensei is correct! You really are youthful!" Exclaimed thing 2.

 _'Gai-sensei? As in a guy? And what the hell do they mean by youthful?'_

"Um, okay," I replied uncertainly before stepping around them.

"Wait!" One of them called out.

I felt my eye twitch just a bit.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I turned around and gritted out, "What?"

"I must know the name of my youthful pupil!" Thing 1 exclaimed.

I sighed before saying, "It's Kaoru. Kaoru Haruno. Now, I have to get going."

As I left the aisle quickly, one of them called out again. This time, I ignored them and hurriedly made my way to the checkout desk. I handed the man behind the desk the money as quickly as possible before almost running out of the store.

I sighed in relief as soon as I was out before I started running toward the training grounds which Mebuki had given me a map to. I didn't want to take any chances and have the quartet find me.

I smiled a little when I finally arrived at an empty training ground. It was a little old, with the weeds and different flowers growing here, but it was perfect for a beginner like me. I set my stuff down over by a big tree and sat down. I pulled out my training schedule and looked it over.

"That's pretty basic."

I froze up before looking up, where I heard the female voice. I screamed when I saw the quartet all standing on different branches in the tree above me. Standing up quickly, I turned to see them all jump down to the ground.

"What the-?!" I cut myself off from cussing before continuing with something a little more appropriate, "Did you follow me?!"

"Technically only they followed you," the dumpling girl said pointing at thing 1 and thing 2, "We decided to follow them."

I placed my hands on my hip and narrowed my eyes at the two mentioned. They didn't look the least bit guilty of having followed me which angered me even more.

"And why exactly would you do that?" I asked tensely.

"We wanted to help you get your training started!" Thing 2 exclaimed happily.

"I don't need your help," I declined calmly before turning around.

"Your training schedule was pathetic. You'll need all the help you can get," Someone said from behind me.

I froze before slowly turning around and locked eyes with the pale eyed boy. I openly glared at him, something I've never done to anyone before, and it made me feel so freaking _rude_. I watched as he glared right back at me.

"At least I'm not a cross dresser," I stated harshly, taking a jab at his hair, "Even I have more pride than that."

He glared even harder at me, if possible, before simply turning his head away. Though his glare scared me a bit, I mentally smiled at this (very smugly might I add).

"Now, now, pupils! This is no such place for such un-youthful words!" Thing 1 exclaimed.

 _'Thinking of thing 1 and thing 2 is getting kind of old.'_

"What are your names?" I questioned.

"I'm so glad you asked! I am Might Gai, but you may call me Gai-sensei!" He exclaimed as he strikes a pose.

"And I am Lee! Gai-sensei's faithful pupil!" The other one, Lee, exclaimed as he too striked a pose next to Gai-sensei.

I raised an eyebrow at this and discreetly took a small step away from them. Though I wasn't as discreet as I would have liked to be because the dumpling girl saw this and made an amused smile.

"I'm TenTen. Don't mind them, you get used to it," she said as she gave me a small wave.

"That's not exactly something I want to be used to," I mumbled underneath my breath.

Luckily, only she heard that. I knew because she giggled quietly behind her hand. I turned to look at pale eyes before turning around and walking toward the middle of the clearing. Ignoring them as best I could, I decided to start with the stretches that I used to do before my dance recitals.

"Don't you want to know Neji's name?" Lee questioned from behind me.

"No, not really. But I guess it doesn't matter now since you just told me yourself," I replied as I stretched my arms over my head.

I continued with multiple stretches, all of which were commented on by Lee and Gai-sensei. Mainly about how youthful I looked doing it. Which is sort of creepy coming from a grown man. When I finished, I walked over to the tree that had my bags.

"Are you starting with kunai and shurikens?" TenTen asked me.

"Yea, I need to work on my aim," I said absently as I pulled out said items.

"I could help you," TenTen offered, "Weapons are my specialty."

I turned my head around to look at her from my kneeling position on the grass.

 _'If I get trained by someone who specializes in weapons, I'm sure I could catch up with the rest of the students!'_

"That'd help a lot!" I exclaimed as I stood and walked over to one of the targets.

Luckily for me, the targets weren't as old as the training ground itself so it would be able to take a couple of kunai and shurikens. TenTen had me throw a couple of kunai and shurikens before stopping me and telling me what I was doing wrong. I was nervous practicing in front of the others, mainly because of Neji who kept scoffing each time I made a mistake which was practically every time I went to throw a kunai or shuriken.

"Are you new at this?" TenTen questioned after seeing me throw yet another kunai that only managed to hit the very outer rings.

"Yea, can't you tell?" I replied sarcastically.

I was becoming impatient with my lack of improvement, but I knew more than the average person how much practice makes perfect. I felt my expression darken as I started thinking of when I played the lyre for my father.

I was just starting out. I kept making mistakes by plucking a string when it wasn't supposed to be plucked or accidentally forgetting a few of the notes and having to start over again. Despite all my mistakes though, my father still loved hearing me play.

I took in a shaky breath as I felt my eyes sting with the beginning of unshed tears. I shook my head of the memories and looked up to see them staring at me.

"-oru? Kaoru?! Are you okay? Did you cut yourself?" TenTen asked worriedly as she walked up to me.

I took a couple steps back, putting distance between us once more. I shook my head and took another deep breath.

"Sorry, I just remembered something. Let's continue," I mentally winced at how my voice cracked and cleared my throat.

I turned and walked up to the target to retrieve my kunai and shurikens.

"Okay..." TenTen replied uncertainly.

"Lee asked you a question before," Neji commented with a small glare.

"Oh, sorry. What was your question, Lee?" I asked as I turned to walk back to my previous spot.

"Oh! I was wondering if you were new to the village. I've never seen you around here before today," Lee inquired.

I blinked before nodding my head slowly, "You're right, I'm new here. I'm staying with some relatives."

"Oh, how youthful! Visiting family is such a joyful thing to do!" Gai-sensei exclaimed.

"It truly is, Gai-sensei!" Lee agreed with him.

"Are you visiting on vacation or something? Or is it a family reunion?" TenTen asked curiously as I stood next to her and prepared to practice my aim some more.

"Eh.. Not really. My father died recently," I stated with a small frown on my face, "So it's more like I'm here on a permanent stay."

"Oh, I'm sorry I asked. I'm really sorry for your loss," TenTen apologized.

"It's fine, you didn't know. Besides it's not like it's your fault he died," I replied bitterly.

"Ah.." TenTen nodded hesitantly.

"Then who's fault is it?" Neji questioned as he raised his head to look at me.

"Neji," Gai-sensei said sternly.

I was surprised by Gai-sensei. I didn't think it was possible for him to act so stern. I was impressed by Neji though, he managed to catch the double meaning in my words.

"It's alright, Gai-sensei. It's not Neji's fault that he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut," my words were said harshly and were accompanied by a glare in Neji's direction.

Neji narrowed his eyes at me and frowned. I only turned my head away from him and faced back at the target. I grabbed a kunai in my hand and got into position.

"But could you tell us..? I'm a little curious now," TenTen asked hesitantly.

"Oh, the is such a youthful mystery! Please, I would also like to know who's fault it was!" Lee exclaimed.

I focused on the bull's eye and envisioned the thing I hate the most. I narrowed my eyes at the target. The thing I hate the most, the people whom killed my father.. They were...

"They were rogue ninjas."

 _Thunk._

 _'Bull's eye.'_ A small smirk formed on my face.


	6. Chapter 5

_Thwack._

Outer ring.

 _Thwack._

Middle ring.

 _Thwack._

Outer ring.

Eye twitch.

 _'Oh come on! I threw it perfectly that time..!'_

I grumbled a few unladylike words under my breath as I walked towards the target to retrieve my kunai and shuriken.

It's been almost a full two weeks since I came to Konoha. I think I've settled in quite nicely. Kizashi-ojisan and Mebuki-obasan have both made me feel at home here. Kizashi-ojisan cracks a lot of jokes during mealtimes, some funny and some not. He's a good person overall though, some nights he'll bring home dango for desert. Mebuki-obasan makes the best food too. When I _do_ remember to bring my lunch, it's always filled to the brim with my favorites: salted salmon onigiri, beef dumplings, brown rice, and dango.

I also found out where Sakura got her fangirlish tendencies from. Apparently Kizashi-ojisan was quite taken with Mebuki-obasan, proven by the many photos of her in the family scrapbook, all taken seemingly from behind bushes... Somehow Mebuki-obasan finds it romantic, but I'm pretty sure it's just perverted. I mean there's a picture hidden behind another photo of her in front of a window getting dressed! After seeing that, I've learned to keep my curtains drawn.

I've made friends with Choji, Shikamaru, and Kiba and Akamaru. Choji more so than the latter three simply because we have a mutual bonding over food. There were days when I would _still_ manage to forget my lunch, but Choji was always kind and willing to share some of his with me.

Shikamaru on the other hand finds me too 'troublesome' sometimes because I may or may not nag him on his sleeping habits during class. Learning is important, enough said. But one time he brought a shogi board to school after I mentioned how I used to play it back when I lived in my village. I thought I'd always been good at the game, but according to _Shikamaru_ (mentally hisses) I suck though I'm still better than Choji. I didn't talk to him for two days after that, other than the polite "hello" and "how are you?".

I sometimes find myself nagging Kiba because he tends to send Akamaru off on 'missions' to steal food from the other kids during lunch when they aren't looking. Of course, I should also reprimand Akamaru but then he gives me those puppy dog eyes, which are even more lethal when coming from an actual puppy, so I just didn't have the heart to. He knows he has me wrapped around his finger too, and truly it's just sad.

I still can never find Naruto during lunch either. I don't think he's avoiding me because he always waves at me in the mornings when I come into class, and we talk a lot with each other when we find the other sitting out during the leaf exercises and sparring matches. I just wish we could see each other outside of school too. He's fun to talk with and it's entertaining to see him getting worked up over ramen and pranks. Though I really don't approve of the latter, even I have to admit some of them are pretty funny.

As for my studies, I can happily say that so far I'm acing the written work. I've always been big on reading, and though I don't particularly enjoy history, it's still easy for me to remember. Math has always been a fun subject for me, and while the types of grammar and science that's being taught in the Academy certainly has a new concept behind it, it's still easy enough to follow along with.

The leaf control exercise has slowly gotten easier. By pure chance, I passed by Neji-san while on my way to one of the many training grounds just after the Academy had let out. After politely asking for help, Neji-san grudgingly agreed to lend some assistance. And by grudgingly, I mean he _rudely_ stared at me for a full three minutes before turning around and walking off towards one of the training grounds. I took that as a yes.

After many failed attempts, frustrated glares from both parties, and a few snide comments again from both parties, I was finally able to locate my chakra. I managed to coax it out and tentatively mold it until it was a visible blue flickering around my hand and licking at my finger tips. Honestly, I had gotten so excited that I lost control and it went out.

After that, Neji-san assigned me a set of chakra control exercises to do in my free time or even during class. For a silent, glaring, hateful, pompous, arrogant, ingor - I forgot where I was going with this. I guess what I'm trying to say, is Neji-san can be pretty nice. It may also be because I later found out that Gai-sensei had been watching us the entire time and was apparently going to punish Neji-san if he _didn't_ help me.

I haven't yet gotten a chance to join in on sparring. I've been practicing, really I have! And sometimes I'll think I'm even ready to take on some of the kids in the lower ranks. But then I see them actually going at it - the quick punches, the bruising kicks, the breathtaking body slams ( _literally_ ) - and I just get terrified all over again.

If I'm ever going to be a good kunoichi, I'm going to need to toughen up! I cringe at the thought of any part of my body other than my feet touching the ground and getting dirty. I can take a little bit of sweating. Sweating is natural, a tad gross and unladylike, but completely natural. Fighting, killing, bloodshed - _none_ of that is natural. But.. If I'm going to avenge my father then those are things I'm going to have to consent to. I have to, need to.

I sigh quietly to myself and shook my head to pull myself away from those increasingly dark thoughts. Quickly, I finished pulling out the rest of my kunai and shuriken. Turning around, I walk over to a tree where I had set my things down and return the weapons back to their proper places inside my weapons pouch.

After gathering everything, I began walking back to my house. As it was getting dark, I decided to take the route leading through the busy marketplace to be on the safe side. Quietly, I hummed a random tune to myself as I glanced around at the people around me.

My eyes flitted over the form of a seemingly young man reading an orange book. He wore a mask and was giggling quite perversely, so I could only guess what he was reading. Scrunching up my nose, I scoffed quietly and turned away, nose high in the air.

 _'Disgusting pig! Who reads things like that in public? Seriously!'_ I gritted my teeth at the thought. Shaking my head, I continued on my way home.

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for not updating in so long, but I've gotten preoccupied with other things over the year. Also wanna apologize for the short chapter (at least compared to the other ones), but I really wanted to give you all a new one along with a status report for Kaoru. I'm already working on the next chapter so yay. As Kaoru adjusts to living in Konoha and living a commoner's lifestyle, her actions and personality will gradually become much looser. She won't be as stiff and formal about everything, but will hopefully maintain that special princessy flare. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Another thing to add - please follow my Wattpad account. All but one of the stories on this account were originally posted on Wattpad and still are. It's easier for me to write and upload chapters from my phone, so I'll end up updating chapters on there, but not on here. The account is under the exact same username as this one (AmuletSugar1) and the story titles are all the same as well. I won't stop posting chapters on this cite, but this is just a little tidbit for your benefit as I tend to upload chapters on Wattpad faster. Thanks for understanding!


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